


a cacophony of want

by merthurlin



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Other, in this house we love and respect axioms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-14 06:39:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14130294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merthurlin/pseuds/merthurlin
Summary: Polyphony was a being of want. Barricade could not want anything.





	a cacophony of want

Polyphony _wanted_. There was no object in that sentence – Polyphony just _wanted_ , with their whole body and being, wanted people and wanted for people and wanted with people. They _needed_ to want, needed to combine desires and wishes into existence, needed to want and fulfill and want again.

_An axiom_ , they were called by the people from the Notion, by kind Signet (who wanted change) and confused Echo (who wanted solidarity) and helpful Even (who wanted purpose).

_Axiom_. Noun. 1: a statement accepted as true as the basis for argument or inference. 2: an established rule or principle or a self-evident truth. 3: a maxim widely accepted on its intrinsic merit.

And perhaps they were – they didn’t remember being born, they didn’t remember being made. They just remembered wanting, the basis of what they were, their very own self-evident truth, and wasn’t that what Polyphony is?

_Polyphony_. Noun. A style of musical composition employing two or more simultaneous but relatively independent melodic lines. Etymology: Unknown, ancient, poly + phone, many voices.

And with voices came want and with want came Polyphony.

Polyphony wanted for the town to be safe. They wanted for their people to be happy, they wanted them to want, they wanted them to feel wanted. They wanted to make new forest paths for Tanoi and for Lumine to master the guitar and for whoever wanted to leave they made a way out. They wanted Signet to feel comfortable with them, they wanted Echo to have their answers, they wanted Even to help Tanoi to help himself. If Even wanted to have a robot of his own they wanted that too, if Signet wanted a different kind of tea they wanted that as well, if Echo wanted their brother they couldn’t give them that, but they could make sure they would make the path towards him as easy as possible.

Signet wanted them to move, and so that’s what they wanted, but when Even mentioned Barricade…

Polyphony didn’t remember being born or made or wanted into existed, and they also didn’t remember a time before Barricade, before being _Barricade and Polyphony._ Barricade was there so that Polyphony could want, and Polyphony was there so that Barricade could exist.

_Barricade_. Verb. 1: to block off or stop up with a barricade. 2: to prevent access to by means of a barricade.

But also,

_Barricade_. Noun. 1: an obstruction or rampart thrown up across a way or passage to check the advance of the enemy. 2: barrier, obstacle. 3: a field of combat or dispute.

What would be needed to be stopped if Polyphony wasn’t there?

Barricade was a verb and a noun, a being in constant _happening_ and a being in stationary, _a field of combat or dispute_ around Polyphony. They were the rock to Polyphony’s water but also the water to Polyphony’s rock, the well that contained them and also what Polyphony contained.

Polyphony wanted, but Polyphony also _needed_ , and they needed Barricade, they needed their shield and their might and their existence, needed to know that between all of their independent music lines there was one of Polyphony and one of Barricade, intertwined in purpose and want and need.

Barricade never wanted anything, Polyphony didn’t know if they were capable of want ( _and didn’t that make them a pair, a being of want and a being incapable of such?_ ) but now for the first time, at Signet’s words, they felt them _need_ something. To be a divine – Polyphony rather felt they already were one, their residents their excerpts, their fleet the town – but they could now feel Barricade expanding, trying to contain _more_ , and they could not begrudge them that. They were Polyphony and they could accommodate – they did it for Lumine and Tanoi and Signet and they would do it for Barricade, because that’s what they did.

Polyphony didn’t have room for selfishness in them, or perhaps selfishness was all they were. It wasn’t something they _wanted_ , but for a split second, as they felt themself being carried away in Tanoi’s ship, separated from Barricade for the first time, they could feel just a tiny distorted twinge in their melodic line.

 

**Author's Note:**

> find me on twitter @merthurlin


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